Dirk's Rambles

I am sitting in Mountain Harbor Hostel and B & B after getting here walking the 75.6 miles from April 6-11 including taking a zero on April 8 and a nero (low mileage day) on April 7th. I'm meeting Theresa, my wife, on the 14th so I am chilling here for a few days. This was the easiest location for Theresa to find me. I am going off the trail from now until April 24th to turkey hunt in Kentucky with two of my brothers and several friends.

So after my previous post on April 6 at ...

Taking a zero in Erwin, TN today with Brad Servey. He surprised me on Tuesday April 6 by showing up in the parking lot at Sam's Gap after Natures Inn dropped me off in the morning. Neither of us recognized the other. I thought he looked alot like Brad when I saw him but still thought he could not be Brad. He was driving a car for one thing and the last I heard Brad was still hiking the trail. I even looked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Brad recognized me first by my PSU hat. He ...

I checked into Natures Inn Hostel last night at 7:30 pm after a long day on the trail. I got two opposing sets of directions from hikers yesterday, both of whom said the hostel was only .2 of a mile from the trail. Both were wrong. Luckily, I had the phone number for another hostel, who gave me the phone number for Natures Inn. I called and a man named Taft, the owner, came and picked me up.

IN the last three days (April 3, 4, and 5) I have covered 11, 15.9, and 18.1 miles respectively. ...

I am sitting in Laughing Heart Hostel in Hot Springs, NC as I write this. Rolled in last night around 4:45 pm, did my laundry, ate stew donated by a trail angel, drank beer also donated by a trail angel.

April 1st started off at Standing Bear Hostel around 7:45 am, anticipating cold weather and 1 to 2 inches of snow. It was a cold walk with high winds but only a dusting of snow. It was still tough walking even without the snow. Hike 16.5 miles and camped a Roaring Fork Shelter. Longevity, ...

I am sitting at Standing Bear Hostel just outside of Davenport, NC. Finished the Smokies yesterday. Completed it in 5 days, averaging 15.48 miles per day. So happy I made it thru and that I covered it so fast.

So it has been an eventful five days since I last wrote in my journal. Brad decided to take a zero at Siler's Bald on the morning of Sunday, March 28. We had covered almost 31 miles in two days. He said he was hurting from his head to his toes. When he came in to the shelter ...